Writing board



eh 15, 393%. E. J. GERETY 2,108,481

WRITING BOARD Filed June 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ll If ll 35 a u u I! H H I:

9 3 I 7 ml IVENTOR BY II 3 flu 1A illi IHI V ATTORNEY.

Feb. 15, 1938. GERETY 2,l08,481

WRITING BOARD Filed June 4, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 15, 1938 PATENT OFFiE 'WRITING BOARD Edward 'J. Gercty; Bronx, N. Y., assig'nor to The McBee Company, Athens, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application June 4, 1935, Serial No. 24,796

r 3 Claims.

My invention, relates to that class which are described in my copending application, Serial No. 709,731 filed February 5, ,1934, now Patent No. 2,011,625, August 20, 1935. As described in that application, automatic means are provided for shifting the spacer which carries the strip of paper or a line guide such as shown in Patent No. 1,372,360 March'22, 1921; this operation being brought-about by the movement of a plate, one side of which is hinged to the platen and when it presses down upon the platen it holdsthe slip of paper which is to be written upon and which is attached to the spacer in place.v

Upon this release the spacer is automatically shifted one line or more as desired. I have found in practice that if the operator turns away from the board before completing his entry on the slip of paper the plate is automatically elevated and this in turn permits the automatic mechanism to shift the linesp'acer.

The principal object of my present invention is an improvement on {that board by providing means to lock the plate in position so, that i t will not release the strip of paper" and consequently will prevent the operation of the automatic mechanism unless manual released by the operator.

A further object is to provide aligning means on the plate which will have the effect of straightening the strip, of paper in the event that 1 it has not been placed in correct position so asto register with the lines on the master sheet on the platen or writing board. It is sometimes found that the vertical columns on the master sheet do A not register accurately with the vertical columns on the sheet carried by the line spacer, As ,a consequence the entries are'not always in'line.

. I have found that by providing 'a plurality of lines on the strip of paper instead of a single line ,I' insure the figures appearing in the proper columns.

A further object of my invention is to improve the method of shifting the pawl which is actuated v by the movement of the plate.

My means of accomplishing the foregoing ob jects'may be more'readi ly understood by having reference to the accompanying drawings which are hereunto annexed and are a part of this specificatiomin which a v Fig. 1 is a plan view of my device with a'portion thereof bro-ken away; V

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary bottom View of my device showing the-relation; between the spacing member and the worm which operates it.

of boards i Fig. 3 is a detailed View of the gear box partly of forming the vertical lines on the strip of paper.-

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the entire description.

As shown in the drawings. the platen or writing board I may be formed of any suitable material. I prefer the use of a light metal such as aluminum rather than of making it of wood or any of the heavier metals. In order to facilitate the placing of the master sheets on the platen, I provide a peripheral upwardlyextending flange 2 which extends along the top' of the platen along one side, a plurality of studs 3 are mounted on the platen and are adapted to receive perforations formed in the master sheet thus. serving to hold the sheets securely in place. On one side of the writing board is a slot 4 through which extends a This strip of paper 6 represents an entry slip and is provided with a plurality of horizontal and vertical spacers when inv position on the board I which extends over one or more master sheets 1 andcarbons 8. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that a multiplicity of entry. slips may be used in manifold relation either with the wax carbon spots on the back or carbon paper. intermediate or the top sheet of the pile of sheets on the platen. One may be the master sheet and the under surface of the entry slip 6 may be;

coated with carbon. The pins are carried by a spacer 9 which'is preferably formed of a flat" plate, one edge of which slides on'support' I0.

At the other side it is formed into a sleeve Il adapted to encircle a worm l 2 which is journalled in the opposite sides of the board. One of the pins 5 is fixedly mounted on the flat plate 9, the

other pin 5' is mounted upon a plate I3 which is" pivotally secured to the plate 9 by a pin or pivot l4 and is provided with a finger l5 which is;

adapted to extend into the groove of the worm l2. The finger I5 is normally pressed into the groove of the worm I2 by a spring I6.

A portion of the plate adjacent this pin is cut away as clearly seen in Fig. 7, thus permitting its movement in order to disengage the finger Hi from the Worm |2 when it is desired to quickly shift the position of the spacer from one end of the worm I2 to the other.

Rigidly keyed to the upper end of the shaft of the worm I2 is a pinion H, the teeth of which are in mesh with a gear I8 which is fixedly secured to a shaft I9. Preferably mounted upon the hub of the gear I8 is a ratchet 20, although if desired it may be secured direct to the shaft I9.

A disk 2| is loosely mounted on shaft l9. On one side of this disk 2| is mounted a spring pressed pawl 22 which swings on a pin 23 extending downwardly from one side of the disk 2|. This pawl is arranged to engage the teeth of the ratchet 20 when it moves in a counter clockwise direction. The opposite side of the disk 2| is recessed and has a spring 24 mounted therein, one end of the spring being attached to the disk adjacent its hub, the other extending outwardly and being attached to a pin 25 mounted in one wall of the gear box 26 which is secured to the platen I adjacent the upper endo-f the worm l2.

In the inner face of the gear box 28 I form an arcuate slot 21 through which projects a pin 23 which extends laterally from the disk 2|. This brings the pin in position to be engaged by the end of a plate 29, the sides of which are hinged to the platen at 3|]. This plate: is sufficiently Wide so that it will extend over the entry slip 6.

On the bottom side of the plate 29 I form a groove, the sides 3| and 32 of which are adapted to engage the ends of the strip 6. Elastic and compressible cushions 33, preferably formed of rubber, are mounted in the sides of the slot adjacent the edges thereof, the result being that when the plate 29 is pressed downwardly against the platen, the rubbers 33 will operate to aline the entry strip 6 if it has not been placed in correct position on the pins 5. I at first tried having the rubber on only one of the edges of the slot but in practice I discovered that I could not be sure of it operating to properly aline the entry strip 6 unless there was a strip of rubber on each edge of the channel into which the ends of the pins 5 and 5 extend.

It will be obvious from the hereinbefore contained description that the spring 24 operates to normally hold the pin 28 at the upper end of the arcuate slot 21. The means for normally holding the plate 29 pressed against the platen, so as to hold the strip 6 in position, comprises a hook 34 which is engaged by a detent 35 which is pivotally secured to the underside of the plate 29. The detent 35 is normally held in the position shown in Fig. 5, a spring 36 being provided to hold it in that position. A pin 31 is fixedly secured in said detent adjacent one end. This pin 31 extends through a slot 38 formed in the plate 29, the upper end of the pin 31, which extends above the upper surface of the plate 29, is provided with a suitable knob 39 for convenient manual manipulation. So that by moving the pin 31, in this slot 38 the detent will be disengaged from the hook 34 and the plate 29 will be automatically moved through the medium of the spring 24 to its upward position as clearly seen in Fig. 4.

In using the board there is always danger that in the printing of the entry slip 6, the Vertical columns thereon will not aline with the vertical columns on the master sheet and if this should occur it is possible for the numerals, entered in the space in the columns, to be out of alinement. I overcome this by defining the columns on the entry strips as clearly seen in Fig. 9 from which it will be apparent, that for example the space on the entry strip in the vertical column 40 will be narrower than the space 4| in the vertical column on the master sheet. This I bring about by printing a plurality of vertical lines 42, 43 and 44. The result of this is that any irregularity in the printing is automatically overcome and correct registration is ensured. In using the board, the operator first places the entry strip 6 on the pins 5 and 5 and presses the plate 29 down so that the rubber strips 33 will aline the entry strip 6 and hold it securely in place. This operation causes the plate 29 to contact the pin 28 and move it to the bottom of the arcuate slot 21 moving the disk counter clockwise against the action of thespring 24 thus moving the pawl 22 over the teeth of the ratchet 23 to a position where it will engage one of said teeth.

As described in my copending application, if the operator released the plate at this point, the spring would automatically move it upwardly and through the medium of the gears and ratchet rotate the worm l2 and shift the position of the spacer. It has been found, however, that it is sometimes necessary for the operator to leave the board before he has completed his entry on the strip and with that arrangement the operator would have to provide some means or some one to hold the plate down. By means of my improvement the detent on the bottom of the plate will engage the hook and will hold the plate firmly down against the entry strip until the operator manually shifts the position of the pin 31 in the slot 38 which will have the effect of disengaging the detent from the hook 34. The board will then automatically be elevated and through the medium of the ratchet and gears the worm will be rotated and the spacer automatically shifted to the next line.

Having described my invention what I regard as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A writing board having a platen for sup porting a master sheet upon which entries are to be made, a spacer mounted adjacent said platen and adapted for movement along one side of said platen, said spacer being provided with means for locking an entry strip on said master sheet, a movable element, means actuated by the movement of said element for automatically moving said spaceralong said platen a predetermined distance after each entry is made on said master sheet, there being a slot in the lower surface of said movable element into which the entry strip holding means project, elastic and compressible cushions located on the edges of said slot whereby the movement of said element into lowered position operates to clamp said entry strip on the master sheet.

2. A writing board comprising a platen for supporting a master sheet upon which entries are to be made, a slot in said platen along one side thereof, a worm mounted on the inside of said platen parallel to said slot, a plate riding on said worm, pins carried by said plate projecting through said slot, a plate hinged on said platen and adapted to be pressed against said platen, each time an entry is to be made of the said master sheet, a slot in the lower surface of said plate into which said pins project, elastic and.

compressible cushions located on the edges of said slot and means operated by the movement of said hinged plate for rotating the worm and thereby imparting motion to the plate riding on said worm.

3. A writing board comprising a platen for supporting a master sheet upon which entries are to be made, a slot in said platen along one side thereof, a worm mounted on the underside of said platen parallel to said slot, a plate riding on said worm, pins carried by said plate and projecting through said slot,a plate hinged on said platen and adapted to be pressed against said platen each time an entry is to be made on said master sheet, means operated by the movement of said hing-ed plate for rotating the worm and thereby imparting motion to the plate riding on said worm, said mechanism consisting of a ratchet and paw] and cooperating gears, a gear casing secured to the platen adjacent the upper end of the worm, there being an arcuate slot in the inner face of said gear casing, a disk secured to the larger gear, a pin in said disk which extends through said arcuate slot mounting the periphery of said disk, a circular recess in one side of said disk, a coil spring mounted therein, one

' end of which is secured to the disk and the other to the gear casing whereby the pin in said arcuate slot is normally held in the upper end thereof. EDWARD J. GERETY. 

